Captain Vance
by Auspicious Autumn
Summary: After Vance Medici receives so many compliments on his pirate costume during Halloween, he decides to he wants to be a pirate more than just night of the year. This leads to the rest of the Greasers and the Preps to getting involved as well.


**Captain Vance**

Vance Medici smiled as he looked down at his outfit, proud of how hard he had worked on it. His usual Greaser attire was switched today for a pirate costume. It was Halloween; the one time of the year when Vance could be anything he wanted in public without criticism from others. He turned around with a bright grin and left his dorm room.

"Whoa, hold up there." Vance turned to see the Nerds checking his costume out. Earnest Jones came up to him and frowned. "I feel your costume is lacking something." Melvin O'Connor nodded. "He doesn't have a sword. All pirates have an awesome sword."

Vance's good mood dropped. He didn't have enough money to afford a decent toy weapon. Like the rest of his Greaser friends, he didn't have a lot of money, so he stopped smoking for a few weeks to afford the costume he desperately wanted. Man, those nicotine withdrawals nearly killed him. Luckily other Greasers were kind enough to share their smokes.

For parts of the costume he couldn't find in a discount store, he bought cheap fabric and worked on them in home economics class. He was pretty good at it despite all the bandages he had on his fingers last week.

Thad Carlson, dressed in a ridiculous super hero costume, came up to him and handed him a yardstick. "This will do." Vance was touched by this act of kindness and thanked him.

He turned to go outside when he ran straight into Russell Northrop. Vance's stomach dropped and he quickly tried to back away but the larger teen was too quick and scooped him up in a hug. "Cool pirate," Russell said before putting him down. The guys in the Bully clique nodded in agreement, while Trent Northwick wolf-whistled at him when he turned away.

He headed to the Auto Shop with his head held up high until he felt someone kick his side and he stumbled. He turned around to see Jimmy Hopkins in a skeleton costume holding a "kick me" sign that must have been on his back. "Sorry about that," he apologized as he helped Vance steady with his peg leg.

Jimmy let go of Vance and took off with Pete Kowalski—dressed in a pink bunny costume. Gary Smith, dress in historical military attire, nodded to him as he ran to join them. "Nice costume, it suits you." Vance beamed and thanked the school sociopath before resuming his route in high spirits.

Vance got to the walkway between the two dorms when he heard a squeal behind him. Angie Ng had a witch mask on and ran up to him. He was surprised when she hugged him around his middle. "You're so cute! And you have a peg leg too!" He smiled as she took off.

When he got to the walkway in front of the school, Pinky Gauthier, dressed in a fancy blue princess dress, grabbed onto his arm. "I know you're a Greaser, but I can't help but be attracted to your style. You're just so real." Vance was taken aback by how nicely a Prep was treating him. "Well thank you. You are a very pretty princess yourself." Pinky kissed him on the cheek before running off into the night.

Vance was enjoying the attention he was getting because it was all positive. People who would never give him the time of day during school were complimenting him right and left. Damon West, dressed as an astronaut, fist bumped him. Bif Taylor told him he should dump the Greasers and make a pirate clique instead.

After an incident with Gord Vendome that left him blushing, Vance finally arrived at the Auto Shop. Everyone complimented him; no one else in the gang cared enough to dress up like he had. Johnny Vincent, the leader of the gang and the person he admired the most, came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Vance, that has to be the best I've ever seen you look. I hope you wear this getup around more often than one night of the year." Vance stammered a thank you and smiled brightly. Even Lola Lombardi, whom he wasn't always cool with on account of how she treated Johnny, called him a stud.

This was the best moment of his entire life.

After Halloween, his Greaser friends started to see less and less of Vance. They didn't worry about it too much at first because he always showed up to class and rumbles with the Preps. But then he started to be too tired for bike races and didn't hang around the tenements much anymore.

They let it go on for a few months, thinking that maybe he was going through a phase and didn't want to tell them. After Johnny lost to Jimmy Hopkins, he didn't even show up to the Auto Shop to hang out after class anymore.

Johnny noticed something was up, but anytime he tried to bring it up one of the Greasers would try to cover for Vance giving excuses such as detention or on an errand for some teacher. They even asked Lola to be faithful so she could be a distraction and boy was she good at that. The Greasers knew Johnny wouldn't kick their friend out of the gang, but they didn't want anyone to bother Vance and possibly make the situation worse.

By the time it was spring they were worried for him—he was usually so sociable. They noticed he seemed happier and they didn't really understand why. Where was their friend going?

One night he walked to the boys' dorm entrance shaking. Peanut and Lefty ditched their egg throwing and walked over to him in concern. "You okay, Vance?" He tried to nod but sneezed loudly instead. Peanut and Lefty shared a look before Peanut put a hand to his forehead then raised it and ran his fingers through his hair. He pulled his hand back and frowned. "Why's your hair wet?"

Vance shrugged and moved to get past them, but they wouldn't let him. He started coughing, so Peanut took off his oversized leather jacket and put it over Vance's shoulders. Lefty and Peanut led him into the dorm and laid him down on his bed. Lucky, Hal, Ricky, and Norton came in and helped Vance get settled, to his annoyance. "I'm not a kid, I can get to bed by myself."

"Sure, kid. Whatever you say," Norton muttered as he put another blanket over him.

Vance unsuccessfully tried to get away from Lucky taking a towel to his hair. "Oh come on you guys, stop it. I'm not sick."

Ricky sat next to Vance and opened up a bottle of cough syrup. "Just choke this down. This will make sure you don't get worse."

Vance made a face but complied, knowing at this point that fighting was useless. Hal put water on his bedside table and left with Norton, wishing him good night.

Soon the other Greasers left until it was only him with his roommate, Lefty. "I'm not sick, you know."

Lefty gave him a sharp look. "You can keep saying that, but what I want to know is why your hair was wet. Were the Preps hassling you? Do I need to get the gang to teach those trust fund babies a lesson?"

Vance shook his head. "No, I just felt like going for a swim. Is that against the law?"

"In March. At night."

Vance put his pillow over his face, signaling that their conversation was over. Lefty knew the rest of the gang were outside waiting to talk. "I'm going to go for a smoke." Vance lifted the pillow a bit. "Why? You know I don't have a problem with you smoking in here." Lefty opened the door. "I'm not going to risk you getting sicker. Go to sleep. I'll be back soon." Vance grumbled as Lefty closed the door behind himself.

Sure enough, everyone except their leader were crammed in Ricky and Norton's room. They looked up when Lefty walked in. "Get anything out of him?" Peanut asked in concern. "Yeah, he said he went swimming. He claims it wasn't the Preps hassling him either. He says he did it of his own free will." Everyone made noises of disbelief.

Hal turned to Peanut. "Should we tell Johnny? I mean, if anyone can get to the bottom of this, it's him. I'm not buying it that Vance's been going out swimming since November. And we all know that if he'd be interested in a sport it would be bike racing or track."

Everyone agreed but Peanut shook his head. "No, let's try to solve this by ourselves. Vance is a smart kid, whatever he's doing is making him happy; we just have to make sure it's not killing him."

Norton looked up. "What about if we follow him? I would hate for him to think we were spying on him, but this is getting out of hand."

Lucky nodded. "What do you guys think? I think that's our best option before having to take it to Johnny."

Everyone agreed and turned in for the night.

Vance didn't go out for the next week due to the cold he had, but two weeks later he was sneaking off again. The gang split up and tried to follow him but every time they did, he managed to disappear down the trail behind the parking lot.

They were pretty sure he was heading to the lake behind the school so they risked going to the beach in Old Bullworth Vale to find a boat they could "borrow". They scouted around under the lighthouse's dock but didn't see anything.

"Don't these guys brag about going boating all the time?" Hal asked.

Norton nodded. "Yeah, they should have them around here somewhere."

"They're called 'yachts', pauper," a voice snarled causing the Greasers to jump.

A group of Preps were there, looking like they were ready to beat them up. In attendance were Chad, Gord, Parker, Tad, Justin, and Bryce; the Greasers were grateful Derby and Bif were not with them. Gord stepped up and looked at them. "What are you doing in our territory? Hopkins told us to play nice, but I think he will understand that you brought this on yourselves."

Peanut moved Lefty and Lucky behind the gang while Norton, Hal, and Ricky stepped up to fight. Fists were about to fly when Lefty broke away from Peanut and ran between the two sides. "Guys, please stop. We're not going to get anywhere if we fight." He turned to the Preps. "Listen, we just wanted to borrow a boat. We weren't going to wreck it. One of our gang keeps disappearing and we're trying to find him."

Bryce stood down from his fighting stance. "What do you mean by he 'keeps disappearing'?"

"Lefty, get back here. We're not talking to these guys." Norton tried to pull Lefty back, but he yanked himself out of his grip and rounded on his gang. "Come on, these guys could help. It's either this or we go to Johnny."

The Greasers grumbled, but agreed to talk. Lefty turned back to the Preps who were very interested in what he had to say at this point.

"It's Vance, he's been going off on his own since November. We've tried to confront him and we've followed him, but the only thing we know is that he goes swimming in the lake around where the path is behind the parking lot at school. We don't know what he's doing but we don't think he's just going for a swim."

Gord frowned. "Vance? That cute red head with the greetings that rhyme?"

Norton narrowed his eyes, suspiciously eyeing the other teen. "Yeah, that's him."

Gord turned to the rest of the Preps. "What do you say, chaps? Should we help them with their friend?" The Preps agreed. "Okay then, stay here. We'll be back." The Preps left the Greasers and when they were out of sight, Peanut yanked Lefty back and patted his head. "Good going kid, no one ended up in the infirmary this time."

Lefty rolled his eyes and pulled out a cigarette. "Yeah, I'm a great diplomat. I'm the next Larry Romano alright." Peanut shoved Lefty playfully then held up a light for him. They stood there smoking and goofing off, hoping the Preps weren't just playing around with them.

A few minutes later Tad and Justin came back. "They're on their way." Sure enough, a small yacht appeared around the bend. Chad lined up the yacht with the side of the dock. "Only two of you guys will fit." Lucky and Lefty stomped out their cigarettes and jumped on before their friends could argue. Chad moved the vehicle away from the dock and steered it expertly out to harbor.

Bryce took out his binoculars. "We're going to try to see how close we can get without him seeing us."

"We're going the route that doesn't have the stone pillars. It's a longer route, but then we won't get stuck. And we'll be able to see him long before he can see us," Chad stated as he added speed to the yacht.

Gord turned to the two Greasers. "So, this _Vance_ has been doing this since autumn?"

Lucky put up the collar of his jean jacket and nodded. "Yeah, it started right after Halloween. At first we didn't think it was too serious, but then he came back one night a few weeks ago and his hair was all wet."

Gord frowned. "Just his hair?"

"We thought it was weird too. That's why we thought it was you guys at first, but then it kept happening and you guys don't do the same trick twice."

Chad scoffed. "Damn right we don't do the same thing twice. Even our tactics for egging change for each confrontation."

He slowed down the yacht when they went around the large island.

"Okay, kill the engine." Bryce said putting the binoculars up to face as Chad did so. They had a good view of the land around where they thought Vance might be, but they were far enough where he wouldn't be able to see them.

Gord and Chad pulled out their own binoculars and focused them. "Okay, I'm not seeing him on the mainland. How about you?" Bryce asked.

"Nope, not on the ship either," Chad said, carefully looking over the area. "And thank goodness too, that thing looks like it could sink any moment. Do you see anything, Gord?"

In reply, Gord let out a giggle. The other two Preps moved their line of sight over to where Gord was looking.

"Is that who I think it is?" Chad asked, grinning.

"Yes!" Gord laughed.

"Is he wearing what I think he is?" Bryce asked, amused.

"Yes!" Gord seemed so happy he was about to burst.

Lucky and Lefty looked at each other, both wondering if indeed the Preps had their brains fried from so much inbreeding. After a few minutes of continued chuckling the Greasers got fed up.

"Do you guys see Vance or not?" Lefty asked impatiently.

The Preps looked back at them, having forgotten the other two were with them.

Chad and Bryce handed them their binoculars. "Gentlemen, I do believe this will solve your little mystery."

Lucky and Lefty felt that the Preps were being weird but put the binoculars up to their faces anyway. At first they couldn't find their friend until they focused on a figure on the beach dressed as…_a pirate._

All these months, Vance had been on an island dressed as a pirate across from a ship wreck. The two Greasers watched him walking around with his peg leg happy as could be. They lowered the binoculars and looked at each other.

No one really had any idea of what to do next so they just returned to the beach where their friends were waiting. Chad let them off where he had picked them up. The Greasers thanked the Preps for the ride then walked back to the school.

Peanut pulled the garage door of the Auto Shop closed then rounded on Lucky and Lefty. "What happened? You guys were out there for so long, we were worried those Preps had tried to drown you."

Lefty sat on a work bench and played around with his lighter. "You guys are never going to believe us."

Ricky snorted. "At this point I'm willing to believe anything, since you all came back looking like you saw a ghost or something."

"You know that getup he had for Halloween?" Everyone nodded, not sure where this was going. "That's it."

The Greasers looked at each other in disbelief. Hal frowned, "Are you trying to tell me all these months Vance has been swimming over to an island to dress up like a pirate?"

Lefty made a noise that the other Greasers took as an affirmative. They were all dumbfounded by the news. "Wait, seriously?" Peanut asked. He leaned his back and groaned. "Of course. Vance, what the heck?"

Norton was the first to get back to his senses. "Well, we all did compliment him—Johnny even told him he should wear that costume more than just one night. We all know how hard he worked on that costume."

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to support him on this. If he wants to dress up as a pirate and wander around on an island, I will be happy to join him. Heck, maybe we can cut a truce with the Preps; they were really into it," Lefty remarked boldly. Without skipping a beat the other Greasers agreed.

Over the next few weeks the Greasers took turns watching out for Vance, making sure he was still happy. The Preps would take them out in their yacht so they would be in on the action as well. Things were starting to be looking up for both cliques.

"You know what," Peanut said one day as he drank Beam Cola with Tad and Chad. "The gang's been talking and we were thinking of joining him. We wanted to know if you guys would be interested. You don't have to be pirates too, but you know, maybe we could do something together."

Tad's face brightened in delight. "That sounds wonderful, I think we will do just that!" Chad nodded his head in agreement. "Even better, what if we get swords made like they had back in the 17th Century? Heaven knows that that yardstick will only be good for so long."

Peanut's mouth fell open while they discussed the odds of getting it to happen. "But we'll have to tell Derby; if we don't tell him about this he'll be angry with us for a long time. Remember how he used to love pirates when he was a kid?"

"Of course, why don't we tell him this afternoon?" As the Preps went on planning, Peanut leaned back and smiled. He put up his binoculars to see Vance doing some sort of ridiculous skip-jump then immediately went into twirling around on his peg leg. Peanut really admired Vance; he had a dream and he went after it. Yes, his little buddy's actions might have just led to peace between the two groups who had been bitter enemies for so long.

Two days later the Greasers were heading to the beach to see how the negotiations with the head of the Prep clique went. They were surprised when they saw the Preps coming up to them. Chad and Gord were sinking down into the yacht making signs of warning for them to run away. The Greasers were confused when Derby Harrington came stalking up to them looking furious with the rest of the Preps trailing behind looking ashamed.

"Did you think it was funny to make a fool out of me, _grease balls_?" The Greasers looked at each other trying to figure out what was going on. Ricky stepped up. "What's wrong?" He recoiled when Derby slapped him. "Do you like wasting my time as well as that of my _friends_?"

Norton pulled Ricky back. "What are you talking about? We really have no idea what's going on."

Derby huffed as Bif stepped up to speak on behalf of the enraged leader. "He was informed one of your members dressing up as a pirate on the island and when we went today, he was nowhere to be found."

The Greasers paled, all of them wondering what happened to Vance. He had just been at class not an hour earlier. "What do you mean he's not there? He's been going there every day since November. The only time he skipped was when he was sick in March."

"Well he's not there anymore. I cancelled an important meeting with Aquaberry for this!" Derby yelled before he shoved Lucky out of his way and stalked off.

"If he's not there, where would he be?" Tad asked timidly.

"We didn't have a fight or a bike race scheduled today," Hal said kicking dirt with his shoe.

"He didn't have any homework," Lefty piped up.

"Could Vincent have asked for him?" Parker inquired, wringing his hands.

Peanut shook his head. "He wouldn't do that without telling me, I'm the lieutenant in charge of that stuff. Besides, today was the day he promised to fix Lola's bike. He wouldn't be done that quickly and he definitely wouldn't have asked for Vance to tag along."

"So whatever it is, it isn't on our side," Norton concluded.

Bif nodded. "Well, I hope he's okay. I know we haven't touched him. Does he have any other enemies?"

"The Townies and us don't get along well, but he knows better than to go near one of them without one of us."

"Well, please tell us when you find him. Come on chaps, we've got a leader to make happy," Bryce sighed as he turned away with the other Preps following closely behind.

Norton turned back to the group. "Okay guys, let's split up. Lucky and Lefty, you guys search all over this side of town. Hal, you head over to Bullworth Town. Ricky, look around the school. Peanut, we're gonna need to get Johnny. If we can't find him at those places, we're going to need to regroup at school and charge on Blue Skies. Okay, let's split."

Everyone went in separate directions, hoping to find their friend. They had checked the tenements and the other usual hangouts in New Coventry, but didn't see their red headed friend anywhere. The sun was starting to set by the time Peanut and Norton got to where Johnny was supposed to be. They knocked on the door of Lola's house and stepped back. Lola opened the door, surprised to see them. They were relieved to see she was dressed still.

"Hi, guys. What are you doing here?" she asked casually.

"Is Johnny here?" Peanut asked quickly.

"It's an emergency," Norton added.

She stepped away from the door. "Johnny! Turn off the stove and get over here."

They heard the familiar stride of their leader coming and were relieved he was there. "What's up, guys?"

"Vance has gone missing," Peanut blurted out.

Johnny's eyes widened in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

Norton stepped up. "Get your jacket on, we'll explain on the way back to school."

Johnny nodded and went back into the house. "Sorry about this," Peanut apologized, knowing how hard it was for Lola to remain faithful to Johnny—and desperately hoping he didn't give her an out to cheat on him. "It's fine, actually I think I'll come back with you. If he's been kidnapped or something, I'll have to put the girls on alert."

When Johnny and Lola turned off everything in the house and were ready to leave, they locked up and the four Greasers took off to school. Peanut and Norton went back and forth, attempting to explain the situation to the couple. Johnny didn't say anything, he didn't even hold hands with his queen—he just listened. By the time they reached school, it was dark.

All of the Greasers were in the Auto Shop waiting for them. Johnny was disappointed to not see Vance with them. "Anyone have a lead?" They all looked at each other, seemingly trying to figure out how to explain the situation to their leader. Lefty stepped forward nervously. "He's in his room, but he won't let us in."

"Have you tried the window?" Johnny asked.

"We even charged the door. Kid has that place closed shut," Hal responded glumly.

Johnny became nervous. "Is he…?"

"He hasn't done anything drastic," Ricky reassured the Greaser king. "He's just in there crying his eyes out."

Johnny lit up a smoke. "Okay, okay. I'll go talk to him."

Everyone followed behind, except Lola who split off to go to the girls' dorm. They waited outside of the boys' dorm while Johnny went inside. A few nerds and bullies were waiting around in the hallway looking uncomfortable, but when they saw Johnny they trooped out of the dormitory to give the Greasers privacy. It was eerie being in the usually noisy dorm by himself with only silence around him.

Johnny cleared his throat and knocked on Vance's door. "Vance, open up. This is Johnny, your king." He could hear shuffling in the room, but no movement was close to the door. "Vance," he said raising his voice.

A soft _go away_ was the only response he got.

Johnny banged his fist on the door. "I'm not goin' nowhere. Now you open up this door or I will have to break it down."

No response.

Johnny didn't give up. "Open up this damn door or I will get everyone in the gang to slam this door open. Hell, I'll even get Hopkins to help."

Suddenly there was a flurry of activity behind the door and it opened to reveal the modest room in a state of chaos. The desks and beds were not where they usually were. The wardrobes were pushed against the windows. Worst of all, Vance's usually magnificent hair was messy with dirt in it and his face was a red mess from all the crying he had done.

Johnny immediately hugged his small friend and let him cry his heart out. He noticed that his friend's clothing was soaked. After a few minutes, Johnny closed the door behind him and steered his friend to lie down on a bed he presumed was his. He eventually broke away to find tissues for the guy.

Vance accepted them and blew his nose out and dried his eyes while Johnny searched through the wardrobe that held his friend's clothing and pulled out pajamas. He threw them to the red head.

"Get changed, you're gonna get sick if you continue to sit around in wet clothes." Vance complied and when he finished changing he curled up on his bed again. Johnny sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulder.

"The gang was worried about you. They thought you were kidnapped."

No response.

"You know, even the Preps were asking about you."

Vance didn't even acknowledge that he had said anything.

"Are you having problems with grades?" No response. "Is it a girl?" No response. Johnny thought hard for how to get a reaction out of him. "Is it a boy?" Vance looked up at him in disbelief. "It's Gord, isn't it? I've told you so many times not to get involved with him; he's just going to play you." Vance put a pillow over his face. "Noooo," he whined.

Johnny was amused with his reaction and took the pillow away, but Vance put it back over his face. "Oh come on, don't be like this."

Vance pushed the pillow into Johnny's face and pouted.

Johnny sighed and tried to think of what else could have put Vance into such a bad mood, but he couldn't think of anything. So he went back to trying to talk about anything he could to get him to talk.

"I know about your whole pirate shindig. Man, I wish you had told me earlier. I think it's really cool you did that."

Vance sniffed and buried his face in the Greaser king's jacket. He heard a muffled, "Please don't talk about that."

Johnny looked down curiously. "Why? What's up?"

Vance shook his head and Johnny could feel another waterworks session coming up. "Come on, tell Johnny."

After a bit of convincing, Vance opened up. "My pirate hate was stolen."

Johnny looked down in surprise. "Is that it? Tell me who it is, I'll cream whoever took it."

Vance let out a pitiful sob. "I deserved it. He was just looking around and taking pictures—he wasn't causing any trouble. But he surprised me and I attacked him with my yardstick-sword before I could think. He grabbed it from me and whacked me with it, then he took my hat and I ran off." Johnny gripped Vance tighter as he continued. "I swam back and...I don't want to be a pirate anymore."

"Who did it, Vance?"

"Jimmy Hopkins," the younger Greaser whispered, but Johnny heard it just fine.

He raced out of the dorm and slammed the doors to the outside open, startling the Greasers outside. "Everyone split up and find Hopkins. I'm gonna kill him!" They all scrambled in separate directions to find him as Johnny went back inside and entered Jimmy's room. He started throwing things around the room. He took Lola's picture off the wall and slammed it against the wall. He just opened the door to the wardrobe when Pete Kowalski walked in. "Johnny, what are you doing?"

"Tearing up this little shit's room, what does it look like!?" he snarled as he yanked stuff out of the wardrobe.

Vance appeared in the doorway. "Please Johnny, stop. It was boring being a pirate anyway; all I did was wander around the island, that's it."

Johnny turned around to face him. "Oh no, I'm not going to stop. I don't care how badly he beats me up, this shit is unacceptable."

Vance backed up and ran to his room, locking it again. Johnny stopped his destruction and sighed. "Damnit, Vance."

He didn't even notice Pete was still there until the kid spoke up. "I'll go get him, I know where he is." Johnny didn't even notice he had left until he came back in with his target in tow. He leapt at him but Jimmy dodged out of his way.

"What the hell, Johnny?" he yelled taking in the state of his room. The Greaser king got to his feet and grabbed the front of Jimmy's shirt. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO WITH VANCE'S HAT!?"

Jimmy's eyes widened and he pulled out the folded hat that looked even more worn out than before from his pocket. "Listen man, this is all just a big mistake."

Johnny swiped the article of clothing from him and tried to straighten out the creases in an attempt to make it look a little bit better. "A mistake? _A mistake!?_ Do you know that Vance has been crying in his room while my gang has been going around thinking he was kidnapped? Do you know that he has been going to that stupid island for months and now he doesn't want to be a damned pirate anymore!? Well do yah!?"

Jimmy looked down in remorse. "I'm really sorry, I even tried to apologize to him but he ran off before I could. Look," Jimmy pulled out a folded set of clothing Johnny knew was Vance's. "He left this at the beach behind the path. Please, I tried talking to him but he just shut me out."

Johnny made to leave the room but then turned back to Jimmy and pointed at him. "If he doesn't get back to being happy, I swear I'll kill you."

Johnny pushed past Pete and walked back to his friend's room. Vance unlocked it and let him in. Vance accepted the clothes, but didn't seem to be happy to see his hat. He threw it with the rest of the pirate costume he had shoved into the trash—including the school uniform he wore with it. Johnny knew then that it would be an uphill fight to get Vance back to his old self.

The next day Lucky and Ricky were leaving the dormitory when they saw Vance get hauled away by a prefect. Lucky followed Vance while Ricky went up to the remaining prefect who was disposing of a pack of matches.

"What was he doing?"

The prefect, Max MacTavish, just shook his head. "Kid was trying to set this trashcan on fire."

Ricky looked inside the trash can to see what Vance would have wanted to burn. His eyes widened and he pulled out Vance's pirate costume. "Oh no." Max frowned. "Didn't he wear that on Halloween?" The Greaser nodded. "He loved it." The prefect walked away to leave Ricky in peace.

Over the next few days the Greasers tried everything they could to make Vance happy again. They tried everything from rigging bike races so he'd win to getting him ice cream, but nothing worked. After three days of this, the Preps came over to the Auto Shop to talk.

"Any change?" Chad asked. The Greasers shook their heads. Tad sighed in frustration. "Well what are we going to do?"

"Come up with a plan of course."

Everyone turned around to see Jimmy Hopkins at the door. "What do you want?" Norton snarled. Jimmy put up his hands in surrender. "Guys, I've already told you how sorry I am over this whole thing. I'm trying to fix it but I'm going to need your help."

The Greasers and the Preps looked at each other. Peanut stepped up. "What do you have in mind?"

"Here's what I'm thinking, we have an all-out pirate war. I've got the Nerds working on costumes for all of you guys. The Bullies are also willing to help. I haven't really talked to the Jocks or the non-cliques for obvious reasons so this will still stay as a relatively private affair. Oh and Mr. Galloway knows."

"It seems like you've already started to plan. So what are we doing besides kicking the crap out of each other dressed as pirates?" Norton asked.

"Well, I'm glad you asked." He turned to the Preps. "Is it possible you guys could get two ships? I'm not talking as big as the one that's crashed by the island, I mean one that has just enough room to fit the members of your cliques. Try to get yachts retrofitted to look like pirate ships or something."

The Preps looked at each other. "We have the money, no problem," Gord said hesitantly. "But we'd have to teach the Greasers how to sail."

Hal stepped up. "We all know how to drive cars, so if you give us time we could probably master it."

Parker nodded. "Well then, what about weapons? We've got to have actual swords."

Peanut snorted. "What do you think we do in the Auto Shop, just work on cars all day? Nah man, we also have welding equipment in there we all know how to use."

Lucky looked up at Jimmy. "Do you think you could get the Nerds to make sketches for us so we make the swords accurate to what pirates would use?"

Jimmy nodded. "No doubt. I'll ask them after this."

Everyone was ready to get to work when Jimmy stopped them. "One more thing, we're going to need a damsel in distress to kick it off. We need someone who Vance cares about enough to fight for. Someone light too so Trent or Davis could pick them up and take them to the ships."

The Greasers immediately looked at Lefty. "Oh what the heck, no, absolutely not."

Norton shrugged. "Come on man, you're his best friend. I would volunteer Johnny but that dude is heavy."

"And he would want to be leading the fight against Derby," Peanut added.

"Come on, we'll do it for Vance," Hal stated convincingly.

Lefty sighed. "I'm not wearing a dress, you got that? I ain't no chick."

A few weeks later Jimmy felt a headache coming on. Between his fights with the Jocks and his plan for the pirate war, he was ready to strangle everyone. "Ethan, how did you manage to get the Nerds to make ninja costumes for you? Wait, never mind I know the answer to that. I just…you know what, I don't care anymore. Just get in position to grab Lefty."

"He's the short one with black hair, right?" Wade asked.

"Hey, do I look good as a ninja?" Tom interrupted.

"Yeah, it really shows off your figure," Trent winked jokingly, causing Tom to retreat behind Troy.

"Just don't screw this up, alright?" Jimmy finally escaped; grateful he had a football game to ruin.

Lefty was walking around with Vance, one of the few times he could convince him to hang out outside of their room recently. They were finishing off their cigarettes when Lefty was grabbed by a couple of ninjas.

"What?" Vance exclaimed as he watched them retreating with his best friend.

"Vance! Get help!" Lefty shouted in distress.

The red head sprung into action and ran into the Auto Shop where his Greaser friends were. "Guys, you'll never believe me but Lefty was just kidnapped by ninjas!"

Johnny stood up from the car he was working on. "Is that so? Well boys, let's suit up!" Instantly the other Greasers opened up their lockers that usually held their work outfits and started to pull out pirate costumes.

Vance stood dumbfounded as the guys around him donned pirate clothing and sheathed fancy swords. "You deaf or something? Get dressed!" Peanut barked at him. Vance wondered if he fell asleep outside without knowing it because this was one crazy dream.

He opened his locker and his eyes filled with tears when he saw pirate coat he made, it was the one all right because of the uneven stitches and the buttons that were sewed on clumsily. He took off his jacket and put the other outer garment on, surprised that it was so clean—he certainly never cleaned it. Next was his eye patch and pirate cap that were a little worse for wear, but still useable. His bent his leg and attached his peg leg, then picked up a sword that was unfamiliar to him. He looked around and saw that everyone else had similar weapons so he presumed it was supposed to be his.

Vance turned around and saw everyone was leaving with Johnny in the lead. He ran to catch up; dazed to see his leader with large gold knock-off ring in his ear that replaced the normal earring he normally wore. He took in the various states of dress and was surprised he was the only one who thought it was weird that they were marching out of the school dressed as pirates.

The pirates turned down the pathway Vance knew so well that led out to the lake. His jaw dropped when he saw a small pirate ship docked next to shore. Johnny took the wheel while the other pirates went to various posts. Lucky and Peanut raised the sails that were there for decoration, while Norton and Hal lifted the anchor and Ricky pulled in the gangway.

Vance stood awkwardly next to Johnny while he shouted orders. "Captain Vance, look through the spyglass and tell me if you see those dogs." He handed the smaller teenager the instrument who clumsily looked through it.

In the distance he saw…a pirate ship with a blue Jolly Roger flag. "Uh, I think there's another pirate ship."

"Which way is it headed?" Johnny asked interestedly.

"Uh, it's going around the island and seems to be going to the beach in Vale."

Johnny nodded. "Okay then, let's cut them off." Vance was surprised when he heard the sound of an engine turning on. No one remarked how weird this whole thing was getting so Vance just wondered if he was losing his mind.

Quickly they caught up to the other ship and were almost side-by-side. "Come to save your little rapscallion?" Derby taunted. The Preps were dressed similar to the Greasers in terms of pirate attire except theirs were nicer and different hues of blue—probably made in honor of Aquaberry.

"And to beat the tar out of you, Blue Blood!" Johnny yelled back.

Soon the Greaser and Prep pirates were jumping on each other's ships and fighting with their swords more than their fists. Vance gave up trying to understand what was going on and just decided to go rescue Lefty.

He pulled out his sword and blocked Bryce's sword from coming down on his face. He had always been good at fighting, but boy was he winded from not doing much the last few weeks. Lucky came to his rescue and he continued on his path to find his friend.

He spotted his friend tied up in the back and tried to run over to him. Just when he reached the helm, Derby appeared in front of him and aimed his sword at his face. "Not so fast, Captain Vance."

The red head pulled out his sword and prepared to fight for his friend. Swords clashed, not one hit it either teen. This fight went on for a few minutes until Derby decided to charge and Vance ducked.

The blonde shrieked as he went overboard. It was only maybe a two foot drop and he was already climbing back up, so Vance cut the ropes on Lefty's ankles and wrists and took him back to the ship Johnny was still on.

"We've got him, let's go!" Johnny shouted as Greasers scrambled back and Preps hurried back to their own ship before they were left behind.

"I'll get you yet, Captain Vance!" Derby howled as Bif threw a large towel over his shoulders.

As they sailed away, the Greasers cheered and yelled in victory. When they reached the shore, Vance turned to his friends. "Anyone want to tell me what that was all about?" Johnny stepped forward hesitantly. "We planned this."

Vance crossed his arms. "I can see that. It was very elaborate."

Johnny took lit up a cigarette to ease the tension. "Well you see, we knew how much you loved being a pirate and when you didn't want to be one anymore we had to take action."

Vance frowned. "So? People are allowed to change their interests."

"Yeah, if they find something they enjoy and I doubt you were enjoying crying in your room and trashing the costume you worked so hard on."

Vance stared at the ground. "You guys did all that for me?"

Johnny put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, it wasn't just us. The Preps got those boats made and taught us how to use them. The Nerds made the costumes. The Bullies helped to kidnap Lefty. And Hopkins came up with the plan that brought it all together."

Vance started crying. "Thank you so much."

Johnny pulled him into a hug. "Anything for a Greaser."

It was late August and students from Bullworth Academy were lying around on the beach waiting for the last pirate battle of the summer to start. The Greasers and the Preps shook hands before they went on their respective pirate ship.

"This is it folks, the last fight of the season. Please remember to place your bets with Jimmy Hopkins. The score is Greasers eight to Preps seven."

As the ships departed from the mainland, Johnny turned to Vance. "You want to try to steer now that you've practiced enough?"

Vance shook his head. "No thanks, I'd rather fight. Bucky shined up my sword really nice yesterday and it would be a shame not to use it."

Johnny laughed, "Okay Captain Vance, whatever you say."

**AN:** I hope you enjoyed my first Bully fanfic. I am open to prompts for Bully. Sorry if I got any of the terminology wrong, I really did try to research this before posting. And as always, I don't own Bully, I just like writing about my favorite game.


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